A Peoria police officer will no longer be required to surrender his weapon when he is off the clock or stay away from one of his colleagues after a judge Thursday denied a petition to extend a no-stalking order. Officer Jeff Wilson had been subject to an order to keep away from Officer Donna Nicholson ...

A Peoria police officer will no longer be required to surrender his weapon when he is off the clock or stay away from one of his colleagues after a judge Thursday denied a petition to extend a no-stalking order.

Officer Jeff Wilson had been subject to an order to keep away from Officer Donna Nicholson since July 2011, following earlier discoveries that he had surreptitiously video recorded her on the job and used a GPS tracking device to monitor her movements in her personal vehicle.

Nicholson alleged in a petition to extend the order that Wilson violated terms of the agreement on three occasions: in September 2011 when Wilson again recorded her using the dashboard camera in his squad car; in April 2012 when Wilson filed a special report alleging Nicholson tried to run him off the road in her car; and in October 2012 when Wilson visited a restaurant where Nicholson’s daughter was employed.

Wilson’s attorney, Lee Smith, called the allegations “grasping at straws” in his closing argument Thursday.

Peoria County Associate Judge Lisa Wilson ultimately dismissed all three allegations as not amounting to stalking incidents as defined by state statute, but she labeled as “troubling” Wilson’s admission that he recorded his trips to the police department in case he interacted with Nicholson.

“That is probably the most troubling incident as reported by the petitioner but I’m not finding that that is stalking under the No Stalking Act,” Lisa Wilson said.

Nicholson’s attorney, Jack Teplitz, had argued Officer Wilson’s use of the dashboard video camera with an explanation that he was protecting himself was part of a larger pattern of behavior.

“There’s a clear pattern on the part of Jeffrey Wilson that starts back before the original order,” Teplitz said. “He had no right to turn that camera on.”

Video footage of Nicholson played a pivotal role in the original stalking case in which the order was granted two years ago. Judge Albert Purham found Officer Wilson violated orders by recording his colleague and violated the stalking statute by placing a GPS device on her vehicle.

Yet Jeff Wilson was granted a special provision in the order that allowed him to possess a gun while he was on duty. An internal investigation later did not sustain video- or GPS-related charges against him and resulted in a 20-day suspension in part for vulgar comments made about Nicholson’s teenage daughter.

The ruling Thursday reinstated Wilson’s right to possess a firearm when he is off the clock. He and Nicholson are both patrol officers.